[Nogrod]

There was no question about Arda’s footballing centre as the qualifiers started. It was Beleriand. Four of the eight matches were hosted by Beleriand teams – and one could count Utumno as the fifth – and even BarrowDowns’ initial hometown was here at Tol-In-Gaurhoth. The most enthusiasted Belerianders talked about Beleriand beating Valimar thus far 6-2 in the group winner counts (with the rest of the ME at zero). But be that reckless boasting or not, it was clear the eyes of the footballing community were fixed mainly in Beleriand for the time being.


A long-expected party

Unlike Gondolin who were experienced hosts team Mithrim was hosting games the first time. They had built a nice stadium to west-Mithrim, in between the lake and the mountains near old outposts of High-King Fingolfin. It wasn’t the grandest stadium in scale but it was elegantly crafted and took in comfortably some 40000 spectators. More would have wished to see the great heroes of Mithrim face the wizards of Bywater but happily there were other matches nearby at Eithel Sirion and Gondolin to ease the pressure at ticket offices.

In the press conference before the game the representatives of both teams were smooth and amiable towards each other. Even when the press tried to make Beleg admit that Bywater had been qualified without their own merit and that they would have an easy evening out, he only pointed out at the level of play of the wizards, the constantly upgrading performances of Rosie Cotton, the threat Shadofax and the Nazguls would pose them in their defence, the unexpectedness of the Hobbits…

The game itself turned out to be exactly as anticipated by the experts on ME football. Bywater was not such a bad team some had thought after the manner they qualified, but there was a difference in the level the two teams played from the very beginning. And so, clearly enjoying playing at the familiar surroundings, Aradan scored after only 8 minutes of the game. Fifteen minutes after the first goal Mithrim doubled their lead with Húrin putting in a nice header from a nice pass given by Beleg. It was 2-0 after less than twenty-five minutes of play and the tension kind of waned.

Come second half the Bywater team really made an effort and more or less got Mithrim by the tail as they were clearly not anticipating such an offensive stance from their opponent. And even if Mithrim managed to contain the steam from Bywater offence after the first ten minutes of the second half, the game was played on much more even ground now. And lo and behold! At 67th minute Mithrim was building an attack when Ferny tackled the ball away from Morwen. Shadowfax was the first to reach the ball and sent it flying far behind the Mithrim defences parked more or less at the middle of the field following the offence… and it was Saruman who suddenly was reaching for the ball first! No one quite realised where did he materialise behind the defenders who tried frantically to reach him, but he was on his way and dribbled Huan himself like he was a mere pet doggy.

It took more or less the whole Mithrim team and Gandalf to cool Huan down after the goal as he tried to go after Saruman who decided to vanish from sight with some magic just to be safe. No one knew what Saruman had done either to deceive the defence or to fool Huan but there sure would be something to speculate after the game.

The vivid feeling of being wrongly scored against made Mithrim more energetic and the rest of the game was basically playing for one goal, that of Bywater. With basically all of Mithrim players attacking it was finally Curufin who made the third goal with a trademark kind of a powerful shot from 25 meters thus finally ending Bywater’s resistance. Two goals behind with ten minutes left in a stadium that frantically supported the hometeam which felt wronged by the visitors was not exactly the easiest place to make a comeback to the game…

But even if Saruman’s trickery caused a lot of discussion after the game even more talk was made about Túrin and his disappearance. No, it was not like with Bombadill. He didn’t leave the field to gather flowers or anything, but he was somehow anemic, not taking part in the attack with full throttle but passing the ball from him. Beleg defended his friend in the after-match press conference saying that Túrin doesn’t have to score ten goals in every game and he has the right to let the others play every now and then. But few in the press took that explanation without a fair pinch of salt. Was there something wrong with Túrin, had he being offended with the speculation that he was too selfish?

The Mithrim fans were upbeat because of their win and place in the semifinals, but there was a small shadow there, the unpredictability of Túrin. It seems that follows him everywhere he goes.


Bywater 1-3 Mithrim
tot shots 7-18
on target 3-9
GOALS:
*8, 0-1 Aradan (Androg)
*23, 0-2 Hurin (Beleg)
*67, 1-2 Saruman (Shadowfax)
*80, 1-3 Curufin (Morwen)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Bywater- Saruman, Ferny, Nazgul #3
*Mithrim- Aradan